My First Blog!

So I've been meaning to create a blog for quite some time now. With pressure and encouragement especially from my bridesmaid Katelyn, I thought it would be fun to write about all my experiences planning my dream wedding and all the fun that is to come this next year. It's also a good way to get all my excitement out so people on fb, twitter, gchat, etc doesn't have to hear about it 24/7! I've quickly discovered it takes a lot of effort, time, stress, and fun to become Mrs. Bender!!!

A little background, since quite a lot has happened since I got engaged!

The Engagement:

Jeff & I had been planning a trip for quite some time. It was my Junior year and his Sophomore year we decided that once we both graduated we were going to take a celebratory trip together. We wanted to celebrate all our accomplishments thus far and also I wanted to get Jeff out of the country. Traveling is one of my favorite things to do, especially traveling out of the U.S. Up until dating me, Jeff hadn't been out of the country....we went to Montreal for New Years '08, haha. So this past year, Jeff's senior year, we became more serious about this trip. We had researched numerous destinations, and we had narrowed our choice to St. Martin. However, with many cancelled flights it would take us 13 hours to get there, with 3 lay overs...a little obsessive....so I guess you may say fate had a different plan for us. After frantically starting to research other destinations, we just stumbled across St. Lucia. It was beautiful, everything we were looking for, and was easily accessible. So done! Booked!

We left my apartment at 3:30am on Thursday the 21st, and headed to Logan International Airport. By 3pm we were on the beautiful island of St. Lucia and at our cozy resort. We unpacked and walked around the resort until dinner. We had a nice dinner, and I noticed that Jeff was acting and saying some really strange things. After we ate, Jeff insisted on sipping a cup of coffee for about 25-30 minutes, while I wanted to leave and walk around the resort some more. I knew something was up when Jeff was like ok, let me finish my coffee....we will go up to the room and change out of our dinner clothes...and then lets go walk on the beach. Hmmmm.....I reallyyyy knew something was up then, because 1. He was being weird 2. I always want to take walks on the beach with him at like LBI, and he always says "that's stupid"....so why would he want to now? 3. It was so obvious he had something on his mind.

So to fast forward to the next twenty minutes, and to the good part....we were walking along the beach, it was a gorgeous night. The moon was out, the stars were shining, the waves were crashing. It was perfect. We were holding hands just enjoying the scenery, the fact we had actually made it and gone on our trip we had been talking about for two years, and just each other's company. We stop and Jeff just held me and was just like "how perfect is this" and I was like I couldn't agree more. He then all of a sudden goes, I think it's also the perfect time to do something else....he then gets down on one knee, and said the sweetest words anyone has ever said to me, and asked me to be his wife. AMAZINGGGG. I couldn't think of a more perfect proposal! After coming to after my shock, I of course said yes! And we hugged and cried on the beach for awhile as he slipped the ring on my finger. Let me just say, it is the MOST AMAZING FEELING EVER. It makes me soo soo happy thinking about how truly happy and in love we are and especially at that moment. That moment will forever be ingrained my memory. Ohhh Jeff, how you always seem to surprise me :)

The rest of the trip was amazing, we saw so many amazing sites and beautiful things. We couldn't have asked for a better week.

So about four months later....here we are!

Stay posted for other posts of my venue search, hiring our wedding planner, picking my bridal party, FINDING MY DREAM DRESS!, and other fun adventures I've had thus far!